Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, in a meeting with his Iranian
counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, welcomed the start of a new round of
talks between the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council
members plus Germany) and Iran on Tehran's civilian nuclear program.

During
the meeting held on the sidelines of the 68th UN General Assembly
Session in New York on Saturday, the Armenian top diplomat expressed
the hope that Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West would be settled
during the upcoming talks between the two sides.

Zarif,
for his part, underlined the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program,
and expressed Tehran's readiness for the start of the new round of
talks with the world powers on the basis of equal footing, confidence
building and mutual respect.

The two senior officials also stressed the need to broaden bilateral ties between the two neighboring states in all arenas.

On
Friday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined that his government
has full authority from Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei for talks with the world’s six major
powers.

“The
government has sufficient authority to gain substantial results in
talks with the Group 5+1,” President Rouhani told reporters at a press
conference in New York.

“The
government has the necessary authority in nuclear talks and I have
chosen the foreign minister for negotiations,” he added.

The
Iranian president pointed to a recent meeting of foreign ministers of
Iran and the six world powers, and said, “The meetings of Dr. Zarif
with G5+1’s foreign ministers were held in a positive and inspiring
atmosphere and we hope that these talks could soon bear tangible
results.”

The
foreign ministers of Iran and the six world powers said Thursday they
were pleased with their New York discussions over the settlement of the
Iran-West nuclear standoff, adding that they have set a new round of
negotiations for next month in Geneva.

The top
diplomats of the Group 5+1 described their meeting with Zarif on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly as "a change in tone".

European
Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who chaired the meeting,
told reporters it had been “a substantial meeting. Good atmosphere.
Energetic”.

She
said the two sides had agreed on an "ambitious timetable" to address
western concerns about Iran's nuclear program and would meet again in
Geneva on October 15-16 “to pursue the agenda to carry on from today's
meeting and to hopefully move this process forward”.

Ashton also added a note of caution, saying it was important to focus on “effective work that we do on the ground”.

Iran
says its nuclear program is a peaceful drive to produce electricity so
that the world's fourth-largest crude exporter can sell more of its oil
and gas abroad. Tehran also stresses that the country is pursuing a
civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian
population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

The US
and its western allies allege that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons
program while they have never presented corroborative evidence to
substantiate their allegations against the Islamic Republic.

Iran is
under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down
West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment, saying the
demand is politically tainted and illogical.

Iran
has so far ruled out halting or limiting its nuclear work in exchange
for trade and other incentives, saying that renouncing its rights under
the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would encourage the world powers to
put further pressure on the country and would not lead to a change in
the West's hardline stance on Tehran.

Iran
has also insisted that it would continue enriching uranium because it
needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is
building in the Southwestern town of Darkhoveyn as well as its first
nuclear power plant in the Southern port city of Bushehr.

Tehran
has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has
come clean of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s
questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.

In May,
Iran and the six world powers wrapped up their 4th round of talks
after two days of intensive negotiations in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Iranian
officials have always shrugged off the sanctions, saying that
pressures make them strong and reinvigorate their resolve to further
move towards self-sufficiency.

Russia
unlike the western members of the G5+1 reiterates on the necessity for
recognition of Iran's right of uranium enrichment.

The
senior Russian officials have on several occasions emphasized the need
for progress in Iran's nuclear case and the relevant negotiations on
the basis of mutual cooperation and respect.